DRACULA OF TRANSYLVANIA

A scenario by Phenix Benton, a.k.a. Exile

Players' Notes
_____________________________________________________________________________

This scenario is an attempt to create a "Dracula" scenario that includes 
conquest, the supernatural, and, of course, vampires. This effort had its 
beginning when a friend of mine, after listening to me complain about the 
unbalancing power of diplomats and spies in Civ2, and hearing of a scenario
contest of the Scenario League Site using the subject of Dracula, suggested 
to me that perhaps I could create a scenario where the diplomats and spies 
were actually vampires. No sooner did he make that suggestion, than a whole
host of ideas came tumbling into my head. The scenario you have now is the 
result of that cascade of ideas. It is a special scenario, and several things
have been substantially altered to suit the atmosphere of the thing. There 
are quite a few new music files and effect .wav files, and some of the units
are not quite what one would expect. Here is a list of some of the more
jarring changes, followed by some hints on how to play this scenario.


1.) The Transylvanian foot troops are actually in the Engineers' slot. This 
means that they can alter terrain. They are the only unit that has the 
ability to alter terrain, only the transylvanians can build them, and, 
although they can alter any type of terrain except mountains, the only type
of terrain that they can transform other terrains into is the "impaled" 
terrain type. The "impaled" terrain is worthless. It generates no trade, 
food, or shields, and once transformed, cannot be changed back. There are 
Transylvanian foot troops in each of the Transylvanian cities, with the 
exception of Castle Dracul, and at the start of the game, these foot troops
will fortify. Be careful not to un-fortify these units, because once 
un-fortified, they cannot be fortified in the game. Units in the Engineer
slot will not dig in unless ordered prior to the start of the scenario. Wish
I could change that, but that's just the way it is. The power of these units
to transform is greatly accelerated; they turn perfectly good fields, hills,
and forests into "impaled" terrain very quickly. Additionally, the 
Transylvanian units are all "mountain" units and pass through difficult 
terrain easily. The worst aspect of placing a unit in the Engineer slot is 
the fact that each Transylvanian foot unit will require 2 units of food to 
support, in addition to shield support.
 
2.) The human player should always play the Transylvanians. NEVER play the 
"Nature" civ! The other civs are playable, but I can't say how well the 
Transylvanian civ will do if an AI is running them. 

3.) The "Nature" civ is there only to run Thunderstorms, Werewolves, Krakens,
and Carrion Birds units. All these units are air units (except the Kraken),
cannot be attacked, and cannot take cities. Vampires can "bribe" these units,
but they tend to be costly, so rarely will Vlad be able to run Thunderstorms 
etc. The Nature civ is at war with all the other civs, and cannot negotiate.

4.) I strongly recommend that the player uses the Deity difficulty setting,
as it allows the 3 nations opposing Dracula to produce sufficient units to
seriously tax Vlad's military power.

5.) The forces of Nature will appear every so often, but the Vampire and 
Vampire Lord units will appear only if the Transylvanian player is killing
the cavalry units of the other civs. If a Crusader is killed by 
Transylvanians, a Vampire Lord is produced. Also, the Horde of Bats unit can 
be produced by the Transylvanian player and can "roost" at the Cavern terrain
specials, (as well as in cities), because there are airbases at each of these 
locations.

6.) There are "huts" in the game at the start. If you play on the Deity 
setting, there will be no Undead Servants units appearing from the huts/
villages, only peasants, techs, and cash. 

STRATEGY TIPS:

As the Transylvanian, you will be hard pressed to retain control of your 
kingdom. Things will be much easier if you can persuade your enemies to 
battle each other. The Impaled terrain is also difficult to move through, so
surrounding Transylvania with a ring of impaled terrain will not ony 
devastate your opponents' resource base, but will also make it considerably
slower going to reach you. A good strategy is to devastate in two dimensions.
While your foot troops are creating belts of Impaled terrain, your horse 
units should be destroying crops and roads. Your opponents will be producing
large numbers of units, so the devastation should severely limit their growth
and production potential. Keep in mind that, once one of the Transylvanian
cities has been taken, no foot troops can ever fortify there again, even if 
you manage to re-take it, so it will NEVER be as well fortified again. (your
subjects, once they experience the "good life" under Tyrkish, Tartar, or 
Hungarian domination, will not be so keen to come under the control of the 
"evil one" again.)

CREDITS:

I borrowed unit graphics from the MGE scenarios, as well as .wav files.
Thanks to Henrik Lohmander for many of the military units.
Several of the Hungarian units were borrowed from the "Danubian Empire" 
  scenario by Michael Jeszenka.
The Janizaries and Knights units are borrowed from Jesus Munoz Fernandez' "30
  Years War" scenario.
If I borrowed something from you and failed to credit it, please contact me
and I'll change this file immediately to acknowledge it.

Exile